Faith Harkey

Faith Harkey centers her fiction on young people facing family hardship, community expectations, and a touch of magic. Genuine Sweet, published by Clarion Books in 2015, follows twelve-year-old Genuine Sweet, the latest in a line of women who can collect starlight and grant wishes for other people. Genuine's gift cannot directly solve her own hunger or her father's drinking, so the story asks what generosity costs when the giver also needs help. Harkey grew up in California and has described herself as a writer, educator, and researcher. Its small-town Georgia setting gives the middle-grade fantasy a grounded social dimension. Genuine Sweet was Harkey's first novel, and its central character's public wish-granting soon draws attention beyond her community. The result blends a young person's growth with questions about responsibility, publicity, poverty, and learning when to accept kindness in return. Magic matters, but Genuine's developing understanding of mutual care gives the story its emotional direction.